An Ending to Begin
by Eileen Blazer
Summary: Obi-wan and Anakin face off, written with an Obidala touch and Poe on the mind


Hiya! I just finished this little story and thought I'd post it. Its   
sort of dark, sort of hopeful. I was inspired by the *sadness* I felt   
when I saw how few people responded to my happier story, At the Ball.  
Geez, I'll never try joy again in the Obidala world. Just Kidding. ^_^   
Actually, this just sort of wrote itself. The quotes are from Poe's   
the Raven, and are indicated like this: -quote-  
I hope its okay. Puleaze respond, via email at eileenblzr@yahoo.com or   
the review option at fanfiction.net Pleeeaaaze? Pretty please with a   
cherry on top?  
ooh, also, I don't own Star Wars, but George L. had my offer to trade   
my puzzle collection for just Obi-wan, Padme, and Han. I'm expecting   
his call any time now.  
PS. what do you think about this title? Any better ideas?   
PPS. This is set, lets say, at the end of a possible episode three. My   
take on what happened to Padme and why Obi-wan becomes Old Ben  
  
An Ending to Begin  
June 2002  
by Eileen Blazer  
  
  
  
-Silken, Sad, Uncertain-  
  
The two men stared at each other, as if preparing for an old fashioned   
duel. All around them, life shook with fear and desperation.   
Electricity seemed to flow between them, trying to decide whose side to   
take.  
  
It settled around the thinner one, swirling around him like a viper,   
ready to squeeze a victim into oblivion. The clouds, evidently   
disagreeing on its choice, flew down to earth to protect the other.   
  
It was man against man, nature against nature, life against life.  
  
Off to the side, a body lay strewn, a motionless prequel to the battle   
ahead. A red river flowed from it, as though eager to run away. The   
trees mourned it, reaching forward to claim it with its leaves.   
  
One man cried forbidden tears, allowing their salty journey down his   
face. It felt as though his life were leaving him also. Now it was   
clear why attachments were forbidden within the Jedi Order: they   
promoted emotions like the profound sadness and unconsolable grief that   
currently clouded his mind. But they were strengthening him as well,   
providing a much needed reason to fight.  
  
Revenge, always such a base and primitive motive, was now his self   
proclaimed goal. It possessed him, controlled him, held him tightly in   
its cocoon.  
  
Only revenge, and then it would all be over.  
  
The other man burned with another purpose: to bring death. He had made   
himself its tool, signed away his soul for a chance to wreak terror and   
pain and agony, at the same time obtaining the absolute control over   
humanity -the power to steal its life.   
  
He needed nothing and no one else.  
  
Once upon a time, the body to the side had been a living person, one   
that he treasured dearly. A person that commanded his allegiance and   
love with the slightest breath.   
  
That kind of power over him could not be permitted. Neither could the   
man before him be allowed to exist. He too had been a friend, a   
guardian, a mentor. But that time was over and his demise would seal   
that feeling in fact.   
  
The two men stood, quietly, while the world cringed around them.  
  
  
-Stillness Gave No Token-  
  
  
Both knew it was useless to put off the inevitable. But something deep   
inside froze them. Perhaps it was an old connection, erected back when   
they fought side by side, a reluctance to destroy an old friend. Maybe   
it was uncertainy. They seemed matched, power for power. Who would be   
strong enough to prevail?   
  
Whatever the reason, it ended when the thinner one reached for his   
saber, shoving his hand into the leather case at his side. "Obi-wan,"   
he said, emotionlessly. "You're thoughts betray you. You're aching   
inside, weeping for the lost lady." The long light materialized in his   
hands and he shook his head. "Tsk, tsk. You should have stuck to the   
rules, old man. Your sorrow undoes your focus. You are weak." Drawing   
the saber up high, he shrugged. "Just remember, she wasn't really yours   
to lose."  
  
As he lowered the saber to cut down his opponent, another light caught   
it. Obi-wan, forcing his emotions deeper into his core, shook his head.   
"No, Anakin, it is you who are weak. You've left behind humanity and   
replaced it with darkness. But darkness can't support your power as the   
living Force once did. Its eating away at you, even now. Soon you will   
crumble."  
  
The saber clashed, lighting the dreary sky with a spectacular light   
show. Glowing, the battle raged on.   
  
"You're a fool, Kenobi." Anakin laughed. "you'll never win. I am the   
most powerful being you shall ever encounter. I carry Death in my   
pocket, place it in the beds of enemies so that it devours them while   
they sleep, waking them up only after their flesh has been chewed and   
their organs mutilated. I relish the evil within and it rewards me with   
such power as you could never hope to feel."  
  
Clash went the sabers.  
  
"I shall prevail." Obi-wan answered. "And you will taste the blood that   
poured from the mouths of your victims."  
  
Clash.  
  
"Still hung up on her? She was something, wasn't she. If only you knew   
what it was like to lay beside her at night and kiss her lips and watch   
her carry around your childern. Too bad you never will. She chose me,   
Kenobi. I knew her in ways you never did."  
  
Something smashed against a tree, so that its limbs slanted down in   
depression. It sighed with sadness.  
  
"You sick, twisted bastard. Is physical touch all that you can recall   
of your former life? Maybe I never held her as you did, but it was *my*   
face she dreamed of as she slept, even beside you. It was *my* love she   
sought out when her heart was lonely. And it is *my* soul that is bound   
to hers for eternity."  
  
The sun began to turn away as they continued exchanging blows, hiding   
its teary face from the world that worshipped it.  
  
"I suppose your right, at least on some level. She did cry out your   
name as I plunged a knife through her. A saber would have been less   
messy, and probably less painful to her, but I guess I forgot it was   
still on my hip."  
  
His taunting scared a roaming butterfly, and it sped away.  
  
"Every word only serves to condemn you."  
  
Anakin seemed to pin Obi-wan against a tree, and drew back the saber   
for one final blow, but the elder man grabbed a twig and stuffed it in   
his foe's face. He kicked the Sith and sent him reeling back. With the   
famous lightening reflexes, his saber fell down upon Anakin.  
  
Holes marred the young man's body, and his breathing grew shallow.  
"So you've won. Strike me down now and end this." His bitter words   
soaked into Obi-wan vengeance hungry heart and circled round.  
  
Kill, kill, kill. Strike him down. Erase his life Force.  
  
But thou shan't kill an enemy in cold blood. It was written in the   
scrolls, engraved into the mind of every padawan learner. An ancient   
rule, as sacred as the Force itself. All at once, Obi-wan realized his   
own error. The pain of his love's death remained, but the driving force   
of revenge disappeared.  
  
A choice presented itself.  
  
He could rightfully kill Anakin, for death in battle was permitted. Or,   
he could leave it for the Force to determine.  
  
The latter choice seemed acceptable.   
  
Turning his back on the waiting enemy, Obi-wan walked away.  
  
  
-Wondering, Fearing, Doubting, Dreaming Dreams No Mortal Dared to Dream   
Before-   
  
  
He knelt beside the vacant body of one Padme Amidala Naberrie. Her head   
tilted at an odd angle as he cradled her in his arms. Her soft skin,   
always so warm and smooth, felt clammy and cold. He closed the eyelids   
over her deep brown orbs and pulled her tigher.  
  
All his life, he'd never known what love really was. Was it that   
insanity that made boys escape from the training facility at night, to   
pursue some attractive female? The boldness, perhaps, that encouraged   
men to stand up and speak when all around him were silent, in hopes of   
gaining some special person's attention? The courage that drove a   
warrior to place his own body between a blaster and a dear friend?  
The affection, maybe, that made Qui-gon sigh and look the other way   
when he, Obi-wan, was doing something that council disapproved of?  
  
Only after Amidala had laughed with him, her eyes sparkling because of   
his presence, and fallen asleep in his embrace while in the middle of a   
flight lesson had he really understood love. It was all of those   
things.   
  
It was a medley of the insanity, the boldness, the courage, the   
affection. All mixed together, they represented a side to the living   
Force that he hadn't yet encountered. It was magic.  
  
Obi-wan shivered. What would become of him now? Would he return to the   
Order, ready to accept another mission? But there wasn't an Order left,   
only a handful of surviors that Anakin hadn't had the chance to hunt.  
  
Would he mourn the loss of his angel by constantly wandering, always   
thinking of her?  
  
Or maybe, someday, he'd see her again. She was a part of the Force now,   
part of the power that fueled him. She was in the air he breathed, and   
the lake that flowed, and the sky that changed it moods so frequently.   
And maybe someday, he could mingle with her, caught once again in her   
warmth and love.  
  
That is, after all, what soulmates did.  
  
  
-By That Heaven That Bends Above Us-  
  
  
As his speeder drove far away from the planet's surface, a heavily   
shrouded body remained the only reminder of the sad day. With a sigh,   
Obi-wan began to think.  
  
Anakin would live, that he knew. The Sith was powerful and resourceful.   
But it would have to be a life behind wires and metal, and surely that   
would only add to his dark thoughts.   
  
Amidala would be buried in the Cemetery of Greatness, on Naboo, where   
she belonged. A large headstone would be erected in her honor,   
proclaiming to all that saw it her glory. And the history books would   
tell the tragic tale of a one time queen, then senator who loved the   
wrong man and died by his treacherous hands. Obi-wan's name would only   
be mentioned as the friend/knight who carried her home, but that didn't   
matter.  
  
He had what he needed, her love.  
  
And her twins would grow and become adults, never knowing that their   
mother had been an angel on earth and their father the demon-man who   
single-handedly ended the Age of the Jedis.   
  
Maybe, one of the twins would be the one to stop Anakin, finally. The   
possilibilty sounded promising and Obi-wan made a note to find the   
oldest twin, a boy, and watch him. There was potential in that thought.  
  
And he would make that his life, creating his own Chosen One with   
Anakin's seeds. Shaping a boy or girl into a knight so atuned to the   
living Force that a lack of training wouldn't matter.  
  
A child that would bring back the Jedi Order and the Age of the Jedis.  
  
And when it was over Obi-wan would fade away into the Force and join   
the love of his life in eternal bliss. Together, bonded at the soul,   
they would be forever watching over life and death, and foolish men   
fight the battle that Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker already   
finished.  
  
He and his love would be parted -Quoth The Raven, Nevermore-  
  
  
~Fin~ 


End file.
